The Grumman Panther was the first truly competitive jet-powered fighter of the US Navy, and the first such aircraft for Grumman. The Navy was relatively late operating jet aircraft from carrier decks, since they were relatively underpowered and operating them safely with fuel and weapons proved to be somewhat challenging and also needed modification and advancement of carrier launching and recovery technology.

Licensing the Rolls-Royce Nene, an engine that powered an entire generation of jets, helped the Panther in this regard. Powered with the licensed-built version of the Nene, the J-42, the F9F-2 was developed. However, as a backup, a J-33 powered version was also put in production as the F9F-3. Underpowered, this version could not carry external weapons, and was just in time for the Korean War, deploying on board USS Valley Forge with VF-51, for the -3s only combat cruise. As the F9F-2 proved to be such a success, the F9F-3 was built in very limited quantities, and most were later re-engined with the J-42.

Panthers proved very successful over Korea, but the MiG-15 was clearly a generation ahead, and air-to-air kills scored by Panthers over this aircraft were a primarily a tribute to the pilots skills. The first Navy Korean War air-to-air kill was scored when Lt(jg) Leonard H. Plog shot down a North Korean Yak-9P fighter while on a strafing mission over an airfield.

With it's four 20mm nose cannons and armed with bombs and rockets, Panthers also remained in action providing valuable ground support in both Navy and Marines service. The only export customer was Argentina, who operated them until 1965, when they were grounded due to a lack of spare parts.

Further refined into the F9F-4 and -5, post-war it was developed into the swept-wing F9F-8 Cougar, but both were quickly replaced in US Navy service by newer aircraft as the pace of aircraft development was racing forward -the Marines, on the other hand, tended to use what works, so it remained in service for a few more years in that service branch. Perhaps that is also the reason why there were no Demons, Tigers and Cutlasses in Marine service!

Unsurprisingly, given the relation between HobbyBoss and Trumpeter, this little kit is a direct scaledown from the 1/48 F9F from that manufacturer. As such it is moulded in a somewhat soft plastic on four sprues, one of which clear, and also, unfortunately, carries over some of the mistakes associated with the larger kit. These include the angle where the canopy meets the windshield, the small intakes, and a few features that were on -4/5 Panthers only. Most of this is easy to correct, though.

All sprues, and the decal sheet, are bagged separately and the clear sliding part of the canopy has some foam taped over it to prevent damage -nice touch!

One of the things, fortunately, not carried over are the millions of divots that cover the 1/48th version, but, being a bit more simplistic in layout, it does not have the wing fold, engine, or speed brakes options of that kit either. In my case, except perhaps for the wing fold, neither is particularly regrettable. It does have nice recessed panel lines, slightly more pronounced than, say, Hasegawa, and a few lines of restrained rivets. The clear parts are nice and thin, and include the glazing for the F9F-2P photo reconnaissance version. The sprue attachment points of wings and fuselage are not on the side of the wings and fuselage, but on the mating surface, so be careful removing these from the sprues. Sink areas are visible near the internal ridges for installing the exhaust and apparently HobbyBoss uses an insert for the reconnaissance version as there are some sunken and raised areas near the nose that will require sanding and polishing. I have both the -2 and -3 kits and both have this so I presume it is not only my example?

Options include a sprue of very useful weapons, but not for the -3! These include some very useful 100lb bombs (6x), 500lb bombs (2x) and 5 Rockets with stub pylons (6x). Since the rather underpowered -3 could not carry external loads other than the fixed tip tanks, this sprue went straight to my spares box to be used on my Hasegawa Skyraider. You could think of this kit as a Korean War weapons set with a free Panther tossed in!

The decals look like they'll cover over the dark blue well enough, though the printing looks not that sharp, and the red bars of the insignia were a bit off-register on my example. We'll see how they work. They cover 2 aircraft of VF-51, one of which is Lt(jg) Plog's Panther in which he shot down a North Korean Yak-9P. More on those markings later!

Final items to be found in the box are the instruction sheet in standard HobbyBoss pictorial layout and a full-colour A4 sheet with painting and decal instructions.

Well... what can I say? Just follow the instructions, ignore the painting indications (white wheel wells?) and make sure you glue the intake ducts on the proper side of the slot they're supposed to fit in. I started with the wing parts. Be careful with which holes you open up in the wings, as HobbyBoss will make you open up all of them, and even the better powered -2 could not carry all of that! For my -3, unable to carry external weapons, I left them alone. I did install blanking plates for the intakes, but since they are really dark, I could have saved myself the effort.

I painted most of the cockpit, including the ejection seat, interior green, with the headrest and side consoles in black. I also made some tape seatbelts with thin copper wire buckles, since the cockpit was to be posed open. The consoles were dry-brushed with white to accentuate the details, and I applied the instrument panel decal. After fitting the cockpit, nose wheel bay (including the nose strut, destined to be broken later!), tail hook and exhaust to the fuselage, the halves were joined and the bottom wing attached. Don't forget nose weight (none is indicated) as it's a major tail sitter! I then attached the upper wing parts and had to apply some filler at the root. This is really the only place I used filler, apart from the aforementioned sink marks and irregularities on the nose.

I also filled the 2 scribed squares and the scoops near the base of the tailfin, as these are -4/5 items. The blow doors before it should also be rectangular, but I left these alone. When all was dry, and seams and the bit of filler were sanded and polished, I removed the vertical raised gun gas vents on the nose (a late addition to the Panther) and after attaching the tailplanes, construction was basically done! I used a set of small files to enlarge the intakes, as these are visually too small, and filled the locating hole in the decking for the part that goes into the sliding part of the canopy, as I wanted mine open, so it would be attached to the canopy, instead of the decking where that hole is. I used some stretched sprue to make a simplified canopy actuator. HobbyBoss also provides a small rod to prevent it from tailsitting, which was installed, then cut off and sanded flush. Finally, I used a file to modify the canopy angle. It should be 90 degrees to the sliding part, but HobbyBoss moulded it 90 degrees to the flight angle, so it kind of eans backwards when the Panther is on the ground. I then botched attaching the canopy (extra thin cement drew around the edge and stained the part on both sides -impossible to sand and polish) and had to get a second kit (the F9F-2 in this case) and was fortunately able via my local hobby shop to obtain a new clear sprue through the importer in the Netherlands -without cost! Thanks to both for that, especially since I screwed up myself. Partly this is due to the way the windshield attaches (a bit like the Tamiya Mustang clear parts), but had I been more careful it could have been prevented. Sanding and Milliput was needed to blend it in with the fuselage, and after that, polishing and a brushfull of Future restored clarity. Finally I masked off those bits, painted the wheel wells and intakes interior green, masked those, and after cleaning up the other small parts it was ready for paint.